Wednesday, January 30, 2013

“The rough and unequal texture throughout the paper is the main cause
of the calotype failing in details before the Daguerreotype…and this is the
very life of it. The look like the imperfect work of man…and not the much
diminished perfect work of God”David Octavius Hill in a letter dated
January 17, 1848

David Octavius Hill (1802-70) was a respected painter and
secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy before he entered into the famous
partnership with Robert Adamson becoming a photographer as well. A handsome,
sociable and cheerful man, Hill was much loved within Edinburgh society. In
1837 he married his first wife, Ann Macdonald, who died in 1841, leaving him a
widower with an only child. Charlotte, nicknamed Chatty, was born in 1839 but
died in her early twenties.

This photograph shows the affection Hill felt for
his daughter. At the same time, this particular pose provided a practical way
of holding the child still, as exposure times for the early calotypes could run
into several minutes.

Hill used a medium of photography referred to as Calotype
meaning ‘beautiful image’.To make a
calotype, high-quality writing paper was first coated with a solution of silver
nitrate. After dying, the paper was treated with potassium iodide. Before exposure,
a mixture of acetic and gallic acids and silver nitrate was applied. The image
caught on the resulting negative was talent, requiring development with silver
nitrate, acetic and gallic acids. Once completed, the negative was placed on
top of a second sheet of treated paper and both were left in direct sunlight.
This form of contact printing meant that the print size correlated to that of
the negative. Waxing the negative increased its transparency and strengthened
the durability of the paper. Calotypes could be likened to engravings or
mezzotints because the image was soaked into the paper fibers causing a
slightly blurred almost painterly effect.

David Octavius Hill was
born on 20 May 1802 in Perth, Scotland, the eighth of 12 children to Thomas
Hill, a bookseller and publisher, and Emilia Murray.

Hill studied drawing at Perth Academy under David Junor and
was admitted to the School of Design in Edinburgh in 1818, where he studied
painting under Andrew Wilson. Hill began as a landscape painter, publishing
lithographs, Sketches of Scenery in
Perthshire, an album published in Scotland under his father’s imprint. During the 1820s, Hill exhibited at the Royal
Institution several times. From 1831 to 1840 he earned a reputation as a book
illustrator, sketching and painting, for some of Scotland’s famous authors
including Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. He achieved success in 1840 with
his popular painting of 61 landscapes, The Land of Burns, setting his status as
secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy (1830-1869).

A fateful meeting in 1843 with Robert Adamson was to change
Hill’s life forever. They formeda partnership
from 1843 to 1848 producing commissioned portraits and selling prints through
Alexander Hill’s gallery on Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. They
produced about three thousand photographs and exhibited at the Board of
Manufacturers in 1843, the Royal Scottish Academy in 1844/45, and after Adamson’s
death in 1848, their last exhibit took place at the Crystal Palace where Hill
exhibited solo in 1851.

Adamson never married and died in St. Andrews on 14 January
1848. Hill became a member of the Photographic Society of Scotland in 1856 and
ran a studio with Alexander McGlashan from 1861 to 1862 publishing Some Contributions Towards the Use of
Photography as an Art. Hill sold the remnants of his studio with Adamson in
1869. He married Ann McDonald in 1837 and had two daughters, though only one
survived birth. His wife died in 1841 and in 1862 he married the sculptor
Amelia Robertson Paton. David Octavius Hill died on 17 May 1870 at Newington
Lodge, Mayfield Terrace, Scotland.

The studio that Hill and Adamson used was called Rock House in Calton Hill, as the building stands today.

Edinburgh Ale: James Ballantine, Dr. George William Bell, and D.O. Hill (far right)

I wanted to share just a few of some beautiful 19th century photographs that I think give an accurate representation and feel for the Scottish lifestyle during the Victorian era. The lives of Hill and Adamson were fascinating yet sad. What I realized was that essentially the British had Julia Margaret Cameron's photographs representing themes of Tennyson's poetry and the Scottish had Hill and Adamson providing themes of their author friends Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns.

One of the final photographs of David Octavius Hill later in life

Sources:

Encyclopedia of
Nineteenth Century Photography, Volume 1, By John Hannavy.

Hill and Adamson: In
Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum by David Octavius Hill, J.
Paul Getty Museum, Robert Adamson.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Etching of Edgar Allan Poe by Henri-Emile Lefort, New York Public Library

On this day in 1845 Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven was published. An ad in the local paper, New York Evening Mirror included the poem in full as well as a note:

1845 - January 29 (Wednesday) (vol. I, no. 97)

"The Raven" (poem, first printing) (p. 4, col. 1,
top) (reprinted in WM of February 8,
1845) (This is, technically, the first
printing of "The Raven," probably appearing just before the February
issue of The American Whig Review was available.)

We are permitted to copy (in advance of publication) from the
2d No. of the American Review, the following remarkable poem by EDGAR POE. In our opinion, it is
the most effective single example of “fugitive poetry” ever published in this
country; and unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly
ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift and
“pokerishness.” It is one of these “dainties bred in a book” which we feed
on. It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it.

The Raven.

Once
upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over
many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While
I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As
of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“ ’Tis
some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door —

Only this, and nothing more.”

Ah,
distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And
each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly
I wished the morrow; — vainly I had tried to borrow

From
my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —

For
the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —

Nameless here for evermore.

And
the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled
me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So
that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

“ ’Tis
some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door —

Some
late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door; —

This it is, and nothing more.”

Presently
my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,”
said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

But
the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

And
so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That
I scarce was sure I heard you” — here I opened wide the door; —

Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep
into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Notes:The introductory text is presumed to have been written by Poe’s friend,
Nathaniel Parker Willis.
Considerable discussion has been spent on the burning bibliographical
question as to whether the present item, or that in the American Review,
is technically the first publication of “The Raven.” Although the introductory
note above states that the poem is being printed “in advance of publication,”
magazines of that era were typically printed and sent out a week or more prior
to the month of issue to ensure delivery. It is possible that this issue of the
Evening Mirror did indeed appear just before the February issue of the American
Review was available, but it is equally possible that the American
Review for February was out on the street by mid-January. A copy of the
January issue in the Gimbel Collection of the Philadelphia Free Public Library
includes a printed note (“To the subcribers and friends of the ‘American
Review’), presumably by the publishers and now bound as part of the volume,
that the February issue would be available “early in January,” the January
issue having actually been distributed in a preliminary form, as a way of
soliciting subscribers for the new periodical, as early as November 1844.

The final stanza of The Raven written in Poe's own hand

This above illustration shows what the Upper West Side of NYC looked like during the year Poe lived there in 1844 where he wrote The Raven. I discuss details and descriptions in my previous article, Edgar Allan Poe

However, another fascinating fact is that the building where Edgar Allan Poe was living during the year 1845-1846 still stands and is located at 85 W. 3rd Street. Locals call it Poe House. He wrote The Cask of Amontillado and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar here.

(CUNY) City University of New York advertisement for a reading Poe gave.

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About Me

I am a writer and researcher of Victorian studies. I research the personal life of Alfred Lord Tennyson, his wife and sons. Also, I am interested in the life of pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and her sitters.
My article on May Prinsep was published as part of the Julia Margaret Cameron Bicentenary Conference, University of Portsmouth, UK. I have given talks on Alfred Lord Tennyson in the US and UK. My articles on Alfred Lord Tennyson have been published on various blog sites as well.
I’ve written guest post articles on author websites from notable nineteenth century authors ranging from: The Bronte Sisters to Jane Austen and those fascinating Pre-Raphaelite artists and muses.

Julia Margaret Cameron and the allure of Photography by Bob Cotton

I'm quoted in this beautiful book. Click cover image to purchase.

Copyright and Photography

All nineteenth-century daguerreotypes, carte-vistes, autochromes, etc., posted here pre-date copyright law. However, all present day photographs posted and shared here are my own property and or that of my colleagues. If you find any photographs that you would like removed contact me and we can discuss it, kimmymuses@gmail.com Also, if you share my images and post them on your own blog sites, without giving my site, Victorian Musings, credit I will contact you for removal. Thank you.

Review Policy

I write honest and fair reviews covering Fiction and Nonfiction, including artistic biographies, nineteenth-century based primarily. I do not use a star system. Nor do I provide automatic five star reviews. What I do is write an honest and in-depth overview based on my impressions and experience reading the book. If you would like to contact me for a review, please use: kimmymuses@gmail.com